Across the spectrum, religious leaders denounce family separation. Here are some of their statements. This is a brief Sunday morning post, because I’m heading out for a 10 a.m. protest against family separation. I’ll be praying for the families suffering separation—and for the soul of my country..
Seizing children from their parents at the border is immoral. Here’s what we can do about it. (New York Times, 6/14/18) Call Congress. Join protests. Donate to legal and humanitarian efforts. Vote.
“The proposed Fair Day in Court for Kids Act would require the government to appoint counsel to unaccompanied children, and it’s important to ask Congress to support its passage. Until then, there are several nonprofits providing vital free legal aid that need financial support: The Texas Civil Rights Project; the Florence Project in Arizona; and Kids in Need of Defense and The Young Center, which work nationwide. Lawyers might also consider lending their expertise. The Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas is helping families with supplies and humanitarian relief.”
U.S. reckons with Trump’s war on immigration (CNN, 6/14/18) Taking little children away from their parents, rescinding DACA, ending TPS for Haitians, Salvadorans, and others, “zero tolerance” at the border, refusing asylum to battered women and people fleeing gangs, the Muslim ban, the refugee ban: how far is too far for Americans to stomach?
“America is heading for a moment of reckoning as the results of more than a year’s worth of hardline Trump administration immigration measures pile up, raising questions fundamental to the character of the nation itself….
“Increasingly there is debate not just about the policy implications of the administration’s actions, but also whether they square with the humanitarian and moral standards that America has historically set for itself — even among some evangelicals who strongly back the President.”
Catholic bishops all Trump’s new asylum rules ‘immoral’ (Washington Post, 6/13/18)
“[The] bishops said the ruling this week came on top of other Trump White House moves that they oppose. Those include ending a program that protected from deportation the “dreamers,” young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, and reducing significantly the number of refugees allowed into the United States.
“At its core, asylum is an instrument to preserve the right to life. The Attorney General’s recent decision elicits deep concern because it potentially strips asylum from many women who lack adequate protection. These vulnerable women will now face return to the extreme dangers of domestic violence in their home country. This decision negates decades of precedents that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence,” said a statement Wednesday by DiNardo in his capacity as USCCB president.
“The statement also condemned the “continued use of family separation at the U.S./Mexico border as an implementation of the Administration’s zero tolerance policy. Our government has the discretion in our laws to ensure that young children are not separated from their parents and exposed to irreparable harm and trauma. Families are the foundational element of our society and they must be able to stay together.”
Bishops and Southern Baptists agree: Trump’s immigration policies are unjust (America magazine, 6/13/18)
“[In] Dallas, delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting overwhelmingly passed a resolution that similarly rebuked the Trump administration on immigration policy and its treatment of migrant families.
“The resolution called for both secure borders and a “pathway to legal status” for undocumented migrants in the United States. The delegates urged that immigration policy respect the human dignity of migrants and the primacy of family unity.
“Longings to protect one’s family from warfare, violence, disease, extreme poverty, and other destitute conditions are universal,” the Southern Baptist resolution said, “driving millions of people to leave their homelands to seek a better life for themselves, their children, and their grandchildren.” The delegates urged the passage of immigration reform, noting that “[u]ntold numbers of men and women seeking to enter the United States legally, desiring to become good citizens of our country, often languish at the borders due to the complexity of our immigration system.”…
“They also declared that “any form of nativism, mistreatment, or exploitation [of immigrants] is inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Conservative religious leaders are denouncing Trump immigration policies (New York Times, 6/14/18)
“Some of the religious leaders are the same evangelicals and Roman Catholics who helped President Trump to build his base and who have otherwise applauded his moves to limit abortion and champion the rights of religious believers….
“Leaders of many faiths — including Jews, Mainline Protestants, Muslims and others — have spoken out consistently against the president’s immigration policies. What has changed is that now the objections are coming from faith groups that have been generally friendly to Mr. Trump.”
House Democrats block street to protest Trump’s family separation policy (Vox, 6/14/18)
“Try as they might, the police did not take them into custody. The minutes ticked by, as police guarding the Department of Homeland Security building stood still, apparently due to a Customs and Border Patrol policy of not arresting members of Congress….
“During Wednesday‘s protest, as House members linked arms and blocked off 15th Street, Crowley collapsed in the street due to heat exhaustion, but recovered at a nearby restaurant.”
Immigration news 